benlavain

The straight forward rock sound of Benlavain works well with the slightly snotty lead vocals of Oren. With a healthy dollop of sixties psychedelic rock, Benlavain just as successfully blend the two disparate styles as either Ming Tea or Lenny Kravitz could ever. Later tracks like “Ain’t Got Love For Yo” move further back into the psychedelic realm, with enough distortion to take over practically all facets of a track. Benlavain really hit their stride during “Glory”, a track that shows their ability to put forth a sound that gains power and speed like a snowball. Oren’s vocals during “Big Apple Sun” mix Gavin Rossdale with a seventies type of sound; the bass line further brings back the sort of-disco sound that comes through at times on the track.

With the vast majority of songs on “Come On People” hanging out between two and three minutes, Benlavain come and go pretty quickly on this album. This tendency to speed through their tracks really is a boon rather than a burden for Benlavain, as the band abandons a track before it can start taking on water. The band gets further kudos in making such an obvious ploy to include an earlier style without subscribing to the whole retro mindset; there are some contemporary elements on each track on “Come On People”. “The Same” is the farthest that Benlavain get to taking the seventies style and completely creating a track around it; Oren’s vocals approximate those of Justin (The Darkness), while the arrangement and general sound of Benlavain during the track seem to take on a Blue Oyster Cult type of sound.

For some reason, the most radio-friendly song “Come On People” is nearly at the end of the disc. This track is “The Sun Child” and comes through with whispered-out vocals like Joseph Arthur, while still titillating listener’s ears with the sweetest tones the band can come up with. Finishing up with another mash-up sound during their “Million”, Benlavain mix together Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service, and newer Neil Young to end “Come On People” in a very memorable way. The band comes through with a disc that is not full of hits, but is solid from beginning to end and shows a band that will become more cohesive and coherent as the years pass by. Pick up this disc to see where the band will go from here; I know I will keep my ear to the ground about Benlavain.

Top Tracks: The Sun Child, Million
- neufutur.com

new York City=92s protest-rock juggernaut = Benlavain's debut album currently #6 most added at CMJ's CORE = radio=20 station. In all 125 radio stations across the country have = Benlavain's=20 debut album Come On People in regular rotation. = The=20 brainchild of grass roots hip hop producer/composer Oren Barzilay, = Benlavain was=20 created as an outlet for all the stories and sounds he=92d experienced = in his=20 years of writing and producing in NYC as well as performing in his = native=20 Israel.


Come On People was = recorded at=20 Seaside Lounge in Brooklyn, NY and Root Studios in Boston=20 exclusively on vintage analogue equipment with Oren producing and = writing all=20 the material. To keep a live, spontaneous sound, the recording was done = quickly,=20 taking a scant 10 hours in all! The music here is influenced by = rap=92s=20 lyric attack combined with Oren=92s metal, rock =91n=92 roll, blues, and = alternative=20 roots, artists like The Clash, David Bowie, Iggy & The Stooges. The = eleven=20 ripping tracks on Come on People are propelled by=20 rock-driven guitar lines and inventive pop melodies and tell the story = of life=20 in NYC, through the eyes of an immigrant, a stranger struggling to the = American=20 Dream in his own individual way.


Oren came to New York in 1997 having had a = successful performing and recording career in Israel. After attending = school for=20 audio engineering and interning at Def Jam, fell in love with rap music = and=20 began writing and producing tracks for underground acts like Rise, J. = Brazil,=20 Breeze Ever Flowin, Poison Pen (Stronghold Crew). = Tracks he=92d contributed to went on to air on = MTV=92s=20 Jason and you've got frie elie .Despite this burgeoning = career,=20 Oren felt that most of the stuff he was hearing and seeing on the = contemporary scene was, =93so fake and unreal=94 that he was driven to = do something=20 about it. He formed Benlavain with two other local musicians = he=92d met=20 through mutual friends: Jason on bass and Avital on drums. = =93Benlavain=94 is a=20 phrase in Hebrew which means "in between." The group quickly began = playing=20 the New York club circuit, honing the material that would eventually = comprise=20 Come On People building a strong local=20 following.


For more information visit http://BENLAVAIN.com <http://benlavain.com/> &nb= sp;
- caustictruths.com

BenLaVain’s new album Come On People is a look through the eyes of the displaced expatriate. The brainchild of producer/composer Oren Barzilay, BenLaVain’s music is influenced by rap lyrics, rock guitar and punk attitude. After having a successful music career in Israel, Barzilay came to New York in 1997 to study audio engineering and intern at Def Jam Records. After producing and writing several songs for other people, Barzilay became disillusioned with the contemporary music scene. Getting together with two mutual friends (Avital Uri and Keren Bar-Nir), the three created the group BenLaVain, the name deriving from the Hebrew word for "in-between." Now on tour, the trio has been making people notice. Come On People was just rated the #6 most added album at CMJ's Core radio station. Across the country in other radio stations, it is apparently in regular rotation.

Their album is a nice combination of anxious punk-ness and Americana pop. They are going through culture shock, yet seem too jaded to really be affected by their “new” surroundings. Their songs show influences from various musical genres and styles: 1950s sing-song pop (as on the track “Jubilee”) to Queens of the Stone Age’s style of drawing out lyrics to almost a whine (as on “It’s Been Too Long”). There is even something reminiscent of the California band Everclear (the song “Big Apple Sun” especially).

While their songs show signs of influence from these other bands, the group does have a style all their own. While their own style is not half bad, they still have a long way to go. Barzilay’s lyrics, while being the sincere words of a man feeling displaced in his own surroundings, at times sound too much like the whiny scribblings of an angst-ridden teen. Musically, their style becomes a little repetitive (in the same way many other punk/hard rock groups become repetitive)…after a while all the songs sound the same.

Still, this debut is not a bad one. BenLaVain has promise. And in the end, tf they don’t get national or international, they can always become and remain highly popular in the ever-fussy New York hipster scene (because really, isn’t that was truly matters?) - www.syracuse.com